


i dive in at the deep end

by cancerthecrabbo



Category: Danny Phantom, Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: A little graphic, Angst, Blood, Blood Blossom - Freeform, Cinnamon roll gets messed up, Complete, Danny is a part of the Team, Danny is a smol boy, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I have a very basic grasp of medical...stuff, Joker is a bad dude, Lots of it, Pain, Vomiting, What Have I Done, he gets poisoned, my son suffers, sort of a sick fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-16
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-05 21:55:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10317815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cancerthecrabbo/pseuds/cancerthecrabbo
Summary: The Joker strikes again, this time he manages to take down their resident ghost.  It happens in the middle of the night, his screams echoing at 3 am.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I am a terrible person. So...many...other stories...I need to work on...
> 
> Title from X & Y by Coldplay.

Every single hero present at the Watchtower was having a bad day.  The source of their problems actually began the night before.  The founders of the League were going over their statistic – how many people they saved, things like that – and their younger counterparts were relaxing over a tough mission.  None of them had been seriously hurt, except for Artemis who had lightly sprained her ankle.  Danny had a headache from hitting his head, too, but otherwise they were all in one piece.  Admittedly, they were also tired because the mission was executed in the middle of the night.  Spring break had started a couple days ago, though, so the young heroes were in the clear.

 

Obviously something had to go wrong, or else the universe was definitely off its game.

 

Despite being successful, the team was tense.  No one had to say a word about the odd heaviness in the air.  They could all feel that something was going to happen.  It started with Wally standing up suddenly and robotically, and flashing away.

 

“What the hell?”  Robin jumped down from where he’d been stretched out on – the rafters – and looked to the others for an explanation.  They could only stare back in confusion.

 

Wally zipped back through the door.  He was screaming, “Help!”  He disappeared into the kitchen, “I’m not doing this—“  Back towards the rooms, “On purpose!”  His yelling was almost unintelligible seeing as the speedster was running so fast.

 

Danny quickly deciphered that Wally wasn’t in control.  “M’gann,” he urged, “stop him!”

 

“Wally’s going too fast, I can’t concentrate on him!”  She didn’t stop trying to stop Wally with her telekinesis, though, and watched as her teammate zipped by them again.

 

“We don’t have enough time for that.”  Aqualad theorized.  “Superboy, could you stop him?”  They could barely hear each other over Wally’s yelling and the sound of him flashing around.  In the chaos, they had all migrated together into a huddle.

 

“Okay, first of all, that would hurt.  Second of all, whatever’s controlling him can just swerve around Supes!  Danny, could you put a shield around him?”

 

“Uh, no!  It’s like M’gann, except worse because the shield is tangible.  It’ll be like trying to trap a greased pig in a plastic container – he’s too fast, and I could end up hurting him.”  Silence and confused scowls met his words.  “The pig analogy was all I could think of right now!”

  

Aqualad’s eyebrow furrowed deeper, “M’gann, can you—“

 

“Got him!”  M’gann cheered.  The Martian girl had finally been able to concentrate on Wally enough to lift him off the ground.  Even in the air, Wally’s legs were kicking.

* * *

 Batman himself came down to investigate.  Flash and Martian Manhunter came down as well.  Barry came only because he was worried, seeing as Wally confirmed the incident was a speedster thing.  J’onn was called because he was more experienced than M’gann with his powers.

 

 “Batman, we found a camouflaged piece of tech on his neck.  I took a look at it, the chip isn’t embedded too deep in Wally’s skin.  It doesn’t even go back the muscles.  I think we can extract it safely.”

 

 “Please get it off!”  Wally babbled. 

 

 Barry gave him a comforting pat and reassured, “You’re okay.”

 

The chip was indeed easy and safe to get off of Wally’s neck.  The placement had made Robin nervous, though, because it was on the crest of one of the speedster’s vertebrae.  However, it was only muscle-deep.  When they pulled it off, Wally yelped but could finally control his legs again and was set down on the couch.

 

Batman swore.  He passed the chip to Robin, who gave a long sigh.

 

“What?  What?  Am I going to die?” Wally’s eyes bugged out.

 

“No, worse.  We know who did this.”  Dick flipped the chip so that everyone could see.  On it was a crude drawing of Joker’s face.

* * *

 “So, what did the chip do to Wally?”  Danny inquired.

 

Robin sighed, “It’s really high tech.  The chip was sending pulses of electricity into Wally’s muscles, but it was specifically programmed to make him run.  It’s kind of like driving a remote-controlled car.”

 

“Well, did you find out what he made Wally do?”

 

 Robin’s lips twisted into a grimace.  “No.  We checked the rooms, the kitchen, and outside of the cave.  We checked for bombs, too, but where was nothing new or out of the ordinary.  Everything was perfectly nary.” 

 

 “That…that’s not what nary means.  Ah, never mind.  You should take a break, Dick.”  Danny said in his den mother voice.  Batman had left a while ago and the rest of the team had gone to bed, but Robin was still scanning every square inch of the cave.  The kid looked tired, even with his mask still on.

 

 Robin looked like he was going to refuse.  Danny looked at him with his puppy eyes.  “Ugh, fine,” he grumbled, “Stupid kicked-puppy eyes.”  He was rewarded with a blinding smile from the ghost.

* * *

 Danny couldn’t sleep.  It was the usual – horrific night terrors that had him screaming and unable to sleep for the rest of the night.

 

Nothing new about that.

 

He shuffled into the kitchen to make himself some tea to try to calm down and nap a little.  He wanted to catch a little more sleep before 8 am.  So, if he tried really hard he could scrape together another three hours of sleep.  Danny would undeniably wake up between naps and take some time to settle down – that’s why despite the clock reading 3:12 am, he knew he wouldn’t sleep much.

 

Danny’s thoughts were incoherent from exhaustion.  He didn’t care what tea he grabbed, so he shoved his hand into the cabinet and took whichever one was closest to him.  He dipped it into his mug full of hot water and watched with half-open eyes as deep red billowed out from the tea bag.  It looked like blood.  In a few minutes, the mug was full of blood-red tea.  The word ‘blood’ rang through his head and something in the back of his mind urged him to rethink his choice.  It was somewhat unsettling, but he was already off-put but the nightmares.  Danny chugged down half of the tea before the pain exploded through his stomach.

 

His mug shattered on the ground but the sound was drowned out by his agonized scream.  He fell to his hands and knees, the shards cutting into his flesh, but that sting was _nothing_ compared to the lava coursing its way through his organs.  He tried to throw it back up, but even when the pain forced him to, nothing changed.  The damage was done.  Spit, tea, and blood dribbled from his jaw.

 

“ _AAAHH!”_ Danny screamed again, wrapping a shivering arm around his middle.  It felt like glass was making its way through his body.  He choked a little on the blood welling up from his stomach.  He coughed it up as best as he could, but he was hunched on the ground and writhing in pain.  It was hard to do anything more than basic instinct allowed him to.

 

It felt like an eternity passed with his on the cold kitchen floor, a puddle of tea mingling with the blood trickling from his mouth.  Eventually, though, he felt someone’s arms cradling him.  When he had he even closed his eyes?  The world around him was slipping from his fingertips.

 

“Danny,” he heard Connor say.  Superboy must be carrying him, then.  “Stay awake.”

 

He didn’t.


	2. Chapter 2

Dick was on his feet before the scream ended.  He could recognize it, unfortunately, after hearing it once or twice.  Danny was _howling_ , and Dick wouldn’t be surprised if he accidentally activated his ghostly wail.  Thoughts of the Joker filled his mind as he ran out of the room, heart racing with barely contained panic.  The others were out of their rooms.  Despite all of them being in their pajamas, they were a formidable sight.  Artemis had her bow ready, M’gann had linked their minds together already, and Connor had a murderous look on his face.  Not to mention Kaldur who had his water whips in hand, and Wally zipping down the hallway. 

 

Another scream pierced the air.  It was cut off by painful coughing and hacking.

 

M’gann gasped, “Danny—“ 

 

They ran into the kitchen to a sight none of them would be able to forget in a long time.  Danny was curled up on the floor, twitching, surrounded by a puddle of what appeared to be blood.  It smelled sickly sweet, though, and was a different consistency than the blood gathering under Danny’s mouth.

 

Dick took all of these details in as he skid to a stop by the half-ghost, who gurgled in pain.  He quickly turned his friend gently onto his side to help him breath better.

 

Kaldur  barked, “M’gann, call the Justice League.  Conner, get him to the med bay.”

 

Neither hesitated.  Superboy, who was more careful than he’d ever been, picked up Danny and headed toward the med bay.  Anger and worry showed on Conner’s face as he looked down to his precious cargo and muttered,  “Danny.  Stay awake.”

 

* * *

 

An hour later and Danny was still not waking up.  This time, all of the mentors had come, along with Wonder Woman.  The mess in the kitchen had been cleaned up and samples taken.  They had fewer questions than before, but Danny was still getting sicker. 

 

Blood blossoms were dangerous when they were merely in the presence of a ghost, but when they’re _ingested_ , things get complicated.  The flowers burned on contact even if they’re in the form of tea.  To a ghost, the tea was deadly and there would not be much that anyone could to do save it.  However, Danny is a powerful Halfling, so he had a much better chance of being healed.  No one in the League was a ghost expert though and that warranted a trip to the ghost zone to see a certain gigantic yeti-ghost.

 

The night that Danny had confessed to being half-dead included an all-expenses-paid, 4-hour-long, passionate lecture on the good and bad ghosts that Danny knew.  It had been very educational and was the foundation of the team’s ghostly knowledge.  They knew that Frostbite was a close friend of Danny’s and would do anything to help the young halfa. 

 

The team had been torn between staying with Danny to try and comfort their teammate and going with Batman to get Frostbite from his realm.  Danny had been unconscious since they found him but still writhed weakly in his bed, sweating and letting out little whimpers.  It pained them all to see the young man they had taken in and accepted as their family member as he was, but it served to fuel their search for a cure.  In the end, they decided to stay because, admittedly, they would only slow Batman in the state the man was in.

 

So far, nothing Barry and Bruce could put together made a dent in Danny’s symptoms.  In his fitful sleep, he still coughed up blood and a fever gripped him.  He tossed and turned in agony, and the only comfort he could be given was a reassuring hand.  Diana made sure to always be by Danny’s side – she could learn all about the wonderful world of chemistry and the human body, but she was a little busy being a sword-wielding badass – to offer said comfort to the young man that captured the League’s heart.  It was frustrating to not being able to do anything, even with a chemical genius like Barry.  Flash himself was getting restless waiting for Bruce to get back with the help they needed and took to pacing in the training room.

 

Two hours later, Bruce materialized in the zeta tube alongside Frostbite.  Danny had only gotten worse, fever climbing steadily.  In reality, he was only now edging into human fever temperatures because of his naturally cool body temperature, but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t deadly.  If his fever kept climbing like it was now, well….  It was best to focus on finding the cure.

 

“Where is the Chosen One?”  Frostbite rumbled as he stepped into the cave.  Worry was present in his voice, and his furrowed brows.  The ghost’s appearance never ceased to inspire awe in the humans, the deep blue of his ice arm sparkling in the light and his white-as-snow fur spotless.  “I must see to him quickly.  Time is of the essence.”

 

“Follow me,” Bruce said, leading the large ghost to the infirmary.  The sight of Danny sweating on the third set of sheets that night, pain etched into the lines of his face, gripping Diana’s hand desperately, was upsetting, to say the least.  It was _infuriating_ that the Joker had gotten passed their defenses.  It made worry curl in his stomach, and it made his fatherly instincts scream at him to protect Danny.  Bruce didn’t even fully understand what he needed to protect Danny from, but he felt the urge either way.  Frostbite undoubtedly felt the same way seeing as he was across the room before anyone could blink and laying an ever-so-careful furry paw on the boy.  The relief was prominent in the way Danny stopped wiggling around so much, but it still wasn’t enough to stop him from squeezing Diana’s hand as another wave of pain rolled through his body.

 

A long sigh escaped Frostbite as he examined the comparatively tiny ghost.  He had never had a first-hand encounter with blood blossoms because his mother, the great Snowstorm, always reminded him not to venture outside of their realm where the sinister flowers were able to grow.  Stories of ghosts _melting_ and _dissolving_ reached his ears, keeping him appropriately horrified.  However, his mother also educated him thoroughly on what to do should he get close enough to blood blossoms to feel the effects of the anti-ectoplasm essence.  The first thing to do was run away as fast as possible.  If that was out of the question or didn’t work, use ice to cover it and shatter it to pieces, and _then_ run away.  He could always run back to the tribe to be treated by the healers, who then took over the job of educating Frostbite.  There was no one hundred percent fool-proof way of healing a ghost who somehow ingested blood blossoms.  Any treatment included phasing the flowers out of the ghost of course, but what was a given.  If their core heated up – the ghost equivalent of a fever – the highest priority would be to cool it down.  Ice from the terrain and ice from a cold-core ghost worked best.

 

After that, the only thing left was to pray.

 

Which was specifically why no ghost, no matter how powerful or what species, would _never_ use blood blossoms against another ghost.  It was too dirty a trick, too horrendous.  If any other ghost in the ‘Zone caught wind of Phantom being taken down by a _human_ through the means of blossom poison, there would be an uproar.  If Danny would die by the hands of Joker, well…no force could keep the ghosts from setting out to exact revenge.  Yes, Danny constantly foiled their plans and with terrible puns, but he was a merciful, respected foe.  It would not matter that Danny was a half-ghost, it was a rule just as important – if not more so – as the truce on death days and Christmas.

 

Frostbite looked up solemnly, shaking himself out of his thoughts, and asked, “I assume you have cleared the contents of his stomach?”  Bruce nodded silently.  “I cannot cure Danny, not truly.  I can help bring down the temperature of his ice-core and sooth his suffering.  However, Danny must fight the blood blossom’s poison alone.  My presence as a fellow ice-core will certainly help, but that is all I can do.”

 

“You had to be kidding,” Dick said without malice, “Danny…he needs something to help him!”

 

Wally stood from his place next to Danny, “There has to be something you can you, Mr. Frostbite.  He’s- He’s—“

 

“Double…dying?”  A voice croaked.  All of their heads whipped around to see that Danny had cracked open his eyes with a tiny, pained smile on his face.  Sweat dripped down his face and his naked chest, agony showing on his face and tense shoulders.

 

“Danny!”  Multiple voices cried out his name, making him wince. 

 

“Not…so loud…please,” Danny rasped.  Every word made his throat burn.  Pain radiated from his stomach like a volcano pumping out lava.  The unbearable heat was made slightly better by Frostbite presence – which, wow, what is he doing here? – but he still felt sick, his head fuzzy and body heavy.  Sleep pulled at his eyes more and more.

 

Diana pushed the hair away from his forehead and stroked his cheek with her thumb, “Don’t strain yourself.  You need to fight the sickness.  Rest and I shall gut the Joker and make him pay.”  She spoke with the same soothing voice the entire time, lulling the young ghost.  He was asleep before he could fully process Diana’s words.

 

“His recovery will be difficult,” Frostbite said, looking around the room and seeing determined faces, “He will get worse before he gets better.”

 

* * *

 

Nothing could have really prepared the team for the sickness that came with blood blossoms.  The beginning symptoms were concerning, but resembled a bad flu.  As the hours went by, it definitely got worse.

 

Danny didn’t have any more lucid moments after the first time he woke up.  His coughing got steadily more violent, shocking himself out of precious sleep.  Without control over himself, Danny showed more and more signs of his pain.  Small tears trickled out of the corners of his eyes alongside beads of sweat.  Frostbite could barely keep back the boy’s fever, but he did keep it at a non-fatal level.  The older ghost was right, Danny was getting worse. 

 

Much worse.

 

The first thing that went through Danny’s mind was a question.  _Why?_   Why the hell did he wake up to agony racing all over his body, a fever gripping him mercilessly?  A burning, stinging pain in his stomach would have him writhing on whatever he lay on if it weren’t for the sheer weakness in his limbs.  Danny didn’t quite remember what could have made him so sick.  He didn’t even know where he was.

 

Opening his eyes was a battle in itself.  Light assaulted him, making them snap shut again.  Danny had been able to catch a glimpse of several figures, but no defining details.  He wheezed in a breath and immediately started coughing, which led to something he hoped would never happen again.  (He had a feeling that despite his deepest wishes, it would.)  Nausea made his jaw twitch and his stomach clench but whoever was around him – a spark of panic ignited in the back of his mind when he realized he was incredibly vulnerable – must have noticed his discomfort and gently directed him towards a bucket.  He threw up only bile; it burned his throat and made the pain in his stomach ten times worse.  A scratchy sob forced its way out of him but he was so far gone he didn’t care who heard.  Someone with a voice very familiar to him told him to go to sleep, and so he did.

 

Before Danny was even fully awake he was coughing up a lung.  The blood trickling out from the corner of his mouth definitely made it seem like he was expelling an entire organ.  When he could finally breathe again (read: wheeze weakly) he collapsed against the pillows behind him.  Danny didn’t even bother trying to open his eyes, sleep was pulling at him.  A voice swam through his conscious; he fought to stay awake, at least to try and figure out what the hell was happening to him. 

 

“…nothing you can do?  Danny’s…worse…I…his pain!”  From the sound of their voice, it was a young woman speaking.  She whispered the entire time, sounding worried.

 

A much deeper voice responded, “I have…everything I can do….   He must…himself.”

 

There were more hushed whispers, and then nothing.

 

Danny couldn’t even lift his fingers anymore.  When he coughed, it was barely enough to clear his throat.  His breathing was slow, shallow; he well and truly sounded like he was dying.  If he really was going to die, he wanted to see something, _anything_ , one last time.  He gathered up what strength he had left and felt his eyelids twitch a couple times before they slid open.

 

Darkness.

 

Danny couldn’t see anything.  He knew that his eyes were open but he couldn’t see.  Breath hitching, he felt fear grip his heart and a few tears well up.  He didn’t want to die like this. 

 

The pain from before was just as bad, if not worse.  Absently, Danny wondered what he had done to deserve this.  As soon as he thought that, a hand gripped his own, and then an arm went around his shoulders.  Someone sat down next to him – Danny felt the bed dip – and took his other hand in theirs.  Another rested on his ankle, and a fourth carded through his hair.  A very large and furry something brushed against his forehead, disappearing with a wonderful cold sensation.  Fingers brushed against his arm gently.

 

The word ‘team’ came to mind before Danny faded away again.

 

* * *

 

The last straw was when Danny started mumbling.  Diana, Frostbite, and the team could bear his tiny sobs and pained whimpers, and even his terribly labored breathing.  But when he opened his eyes for the first time in hours and looked at them, without the slightest hint of recognition, and mumbled, “I don’t want to die…like this.”  It was _too much_.  M’gann’s hand slid over her mouth, stifling a sob.  Artemis snapped the arrow she was sharpening in two.

 

“What did I…do to deserve this?”  Danny’s voice was almost inaudible but in the complete silence of the room, it echoed almost too loudly.  The effect was immediate, the team gathered closer to their teammate to try and give him comfort.  At this point they knew that Danny couldn’t hear them or even see them but they hoped that contact would help.  Dick climbed into the bed with Danny – he was the smallest of them after all – and carefully took the sick teen’s hand in his own.  M’gann pressed herself as close to the bed as possible and brushed her hand through Danny’s hair.  Conner scowled, wishing he could do more than just rest his hand on the smaller hero’s ankle and locked eyes with Kaldur, who mirrored Artemis and laid his fingers on Danny’s pale arm.  Wally slid his arm around the halfa’s shoulders.

 

Frostbite’s eyes were dark as he made one last attempt at comforting Danny and sent a pulse of cold toward him.  The door slammed against the wall as Diana stormed out of the infirmary.

 

* * *

 

There was…black.  Inky, infinite darkness.  Danny’s body ached deeply and he knew that he was too weak to even sit up. But, the unbearable pain was gone.  For the first time in what could’ve been hours or days or months he could actually breathe.  And the best part about that is his mind was finally clear enough to remember where he was.

 

“Mm,” he groaned, eyes opening slowly.  His vision slowly adjusted to the artificial lighting of the cave infirmary.  This was a room he was familiar with, unfortunately, but what surprised him was his team scattered across said room.  They were all out cold, gathered on a couch that must have been dragged in when he was…sick? 

 

The memory of a cup of blood red tea flashed through his mind and one thought led to another.  He arrived to the conclusion of ‘how the fuck?’  Danny was still not fully recovered from what he guessed was some sort of blood blossom tea.  How could someone have gotten that crappy little flower to close to him?

 

The door opened and Bruce walked in.  The way his face changed when his eyes landed on Danny would stay with the teen forever.  Bruce’s expression melted from exhaustion to surprise, and finally – this was the best part – elation.  The man’s mug landed on the table next to the door and in seconds he was wrapping his arms around Danny.

 

“Danny,” he muttered, “If you ever do that again I will ground you for the rest of your life.”  That startled a weak laugh out of him.  The incredibly rare moment of emotion, and worry at that, confused Danny to no end.  What could have he done that worried Bruce so much?  He had no time to ponder that because his teammates had woken up.  They all tumbled out of the couch and immediately crowded his bed.

 

What worried Danny wasn’t that they all looked like they’d been dragged through hell.  No, it was that they kept quiet and stared at him as though he weren’t real.

 

His brows furrowed, “Guys?”

 

The effect was immediate.  M’gann’s laugh burst out of her, and both Dick and Wally’s face split into a grin so bright they almost blinded Danny.  Clark let out a sigh and shared a tiny smile with Kal’dur, who very gently placed his hand on Danny’s shoulder.

 

Frostbite materialized next to the clump of disheveled teens and rumbled out a chuckle.  “I am very glad to see you awake, Daniel.”

 

Danny smiled up at Frostbite.  “What…what did happen to me?”  The mood in the room plummeted.

 

Diana spoke up from the door with more ice in her voice than even an ice core ghost could muster, “The Joker planted blood blossom tea in the cave.  We think it’s half genius, half complete insanity that he managed to put this plan together.  Batman already got the answers out of that clown, so we can prevent a situation like this in the future.  You…you were sick.  Very sick.”

 

Danny nodded.  He knew that he got sick but it was mostly a blur for him.  There was a black spot in his memory after a vague memory of throwing up and he knew that remembering it would not be pleasant.  The look on his team’s face, the sheer relief displayed so unabashed, told him more than he wanted to know.

 

Danny’s eyelids felt heavier and heavier as the seconds ticked by.  Low chatter between the elder heroes buzzed in the background.  His friend’s – family, really – voices told him in no uncertain terms that if he doesn’t rest up quick they’ll kick his ass.  Somehow, they managed to sound both intimidating and endlessly caring in the same moment. 

 

His stomach felt like it had been put through a grinder, and his eyes were hot with fever.  Danny’s entire body was sore like a bad flu had rung him out and he was weaker than a new born deer.  And, his family was surrounding him, safe and sound, looking over him and each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Struggled with the ending...but it's there. Hope you liked it.

**Author's Note:**

> Stay tuned for the next chapter.


End file.
